PENNSYLVANIA MCDONALD’S FRANCHISEE ACCUSED OF ABUSING FOREIGN WORKERS

The owner of 6 Pennsylvania McDonald’s franchises has been accused by a national labor group of mistreating foreign workers at his franchise locations. The franchisor, Cheung Enterprises of Middletown, PA was the recent recipient of a complaint filed the National Guestworkers Alliance, alleging that Cheung had been underpaying foreign immigrants on work visas, provided them with sub-minimum wage pay. The complaint alleges that Cheung leased apartments to these workers, over occupied the units, and charged above the market rate for units within the same complex. At times, as many as eight workers would be placed in a small unit and charged rent that resulted in well below Pennsylvania’s minimum wage of $7.25.

The students, hailing from Argentina, Peru, Chile, Malaysia and other counties, paid upwards of $3,000 to Cheung Enterprise to act as a host in America, providing them with lodging and work, as well as temporary work visas. In exchange, the complaint alleges that the students were treated as “cheap, exploitable workers”, with work hours ranging a few hours a week to as long as 25 hours in a single shift. If proven guilty of exploitation, Cheung could face heavy penalties from the Labor Department, which recently recovered more than $213,000 in back wages for a similar matter involving another well-known Pennsylvania company, Hershey Co.

If you believe that your employment rights have been compromised at your job, contact employment rights attorneys of M&A Law Firm at 1.866.789.1664, 972.789.1664, or email us at contact@dallasarealaw.com.